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Manchester Super Giants claimed their first Men’s Hundred title at Lord’s, beating Trent Rockets by five wickets in a thriller that went to the last three balls. Tim Seifert’s 72 off 38 balls — including the fastest fifty in men’s Hundred final history — set up the win, with Liam Dawson hitting the decisive six off the penultimate ball to deny Rockets back-to-back titles. Noor Ahmad took 3-33 for Rockets and Mohammed Amir 3-29 for Super Giants in a valiant losing effort.
Lord’s, London: They needed five wins in a row to reach Lord’s. They needed a miracle to look like champions five weeks ago, when three successive defeats left them clinging to knockout qualification by their fingernails. Manchester Super Giants had been written off, reorganised under an emergency captain, and questioned at every turn. On the biggest stage, in front of 27,416 fans on a warm August evening, they answered every question with a collective ferocity that the competition’s grandest final fully deserved.
The men’s Hundred title has been claimed three times before — by Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, and Trent Rockets — but never by a Manchester franchise. When Liam Dawson cleared the rope off Ben Sanderson’s fifth ball with two deliveries to spare, that drought ended. And it ended in a manner no scriptwriter would have dared propose.
Rockets Set the Platform on a Dropped Chance
Trent Rockets, tournament table-toppers and the heavy favourites to become the first side to retain the men’s title, posted a competitive 158 for 8 — a total built in spite of fortune rather than because of it. Ben Duckett was badly dropped on 31 by Josh Tongue at short third man off Liam Dawson while reverse-sweeping — a regulation catch that Tongue could not hold — and went on to make 31 before eventually being dismissed. Had Tongue held that chance, Rockets might have been bowled out for considerably less.
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Aneurin Donald top-scored with 38 to give Rockets’ innings a solid foundation, while Lewis Gregory’s brutal 32 in the death overs gave the total a lustre it may not otherwise have achieved. Noor Ahmad took 3-33, troubling the Rockets top and middle order with his wrist-spin — removing Donald with a yorker and Tim David with a sharp googly caught by Buttler — but Gregory’s cameo in the closing overs ensured 158 was a total that would demand something special from Super Giants in reply.
Seifert Sets Lord’s Alight
Something special duly arrived. Tim Seifert and Paul Walter strode to the crease with the intent of a side that had made peace with pressure across the previous five matches, and immediately took the Rockets attack apart. Walter’s left-right combination with the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter created early havoc, and the pair put on 66 for the first wicket before Walter was caught on the boundary by Duckett for 22 off 14.
But the real destruction was Seifert’s alone. Playing only his first Hundred campaign, the New Zealander had already struck four fifties across the tournament. This was his fifth, and his finest — a 24-ball fifty that stands as the fastest in men’s Hundred final history. He exchanged sixes with Jos Buttler in a breathtaking third-wicket passage, the two men taking Rockets’ bowlers to every corner of Lord’s. Buttler eventually holed out to long-off off Calvin Harrison for 23 off 14, and Seifert pressed on alongside Leus du Plooy.
He nearly fell on 33 when Finn Allen took a stunning one-handed diving catch at the midwicket boundary — only for the third umpire to rule Allen’s foot had grazed the advertising hoarding as he parried, ruling it a six. Seifert acknowledged the fortune and repaid it with interest. He eventually fell for 72 — the joint-highest score in a men’s Hundred final — reaching for Mohammad Amir’s wide yorker and miscuing to the deep, leaving Super Giants at 136 for 3 needing 23 from the last 15 balls.
Amir Conjures Chaos, Dawson Conjures Destiny
What followed was as breathless a final-over finish as Lord’s has hosted in recent memory. Amir, the veteran Pakistan quick playing some of the best cricket of his twilight career, struck in consecutive balls to remove Heinrich Klaasen (11 off 9) and bowl Michael Bracewell (0 off 2) — reducing Super Giants to 156 for 5 and leaving the game suddenly, improbably alive at three needed from five balls.
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Two dots. Sanderson bowled, Dawson missed. Then missed again. The crowd held its breath. Rockets captain Sam Billings made the call to stay with Sanderson rather than bring back Mitchell Santner — the only bowler who had kept Seifert quiet all evening and who, curiously, had bowled only 15 balls across the innings. On the third ball of the last five, Dawson swung with every fibre he had and connected cleanly — the ball clearing the rope at deep midwicket, the game over, the trophy won.
The Super Giants’ coach Tom Moody, the former Australia all-rounder, was composed in the aftermath. “It’s a great achievement,” he said. “It’s the first one for Manchester and in my position, it’s a privilege to be involved.” Seifert was characteristically generous. “I think from the get-go, we’re a well-balanced side and a lot of people chipped in when they needed to,” he said. “You look at Tall Paul — not playing the start of the tournament and coming in and doing what he did. It just shows the depth we have. [On the finale] I think Daws had it always under control.”
From the Brink to the Summit
The manner of Manchester Super Giants’ title triumph was as remarkable as the result itself. The franchise — previously known as Manchester Originals and twice a finalist without winning — came into this campaign with Aiden Markram as captain before personal circumstances forced the South African home mid-tournament. Jos Buttler stepped in. Five wins in a row followed. A squad written off as also-rans became champions.
Paul Walter, the Essex seamer-turned-opener who did not feature at the start of the season, finished with 247 runs from five innings at a strike rate of 179 — a tournament-defining contribution that helped transform a struggling side into a well-oiled title-winning machine. Seifert, the season’s second-highest run-scorer, struck four half-centuries en route to his match-winning 72. And Dawson, the spinner asked to bat as crisis enveloped the Super Giants in the final over, delivered the decisive blow.
At Lord’s, in the gathering dark of an August evening, Manchester Super Giants lifted the Hundred Helix for the first time. It was, in every sense, a triumph built from the wreckage of near-elimination.
Result: Manchester Super Giants won by 5 wickets (2 balls remaining)
Scores: Trent Rockets 158/8 (100 balls); Manchester Super Giants 162/5 (98 balls)
Venue: Lord’s, London — August 16, 2026
Trent Rockets: A Donald 38, L Gregory 32, B Duckett 31; Noor Ahmad 3-33, M Amir 3-29
Manchester Super Giants: TL Seifert 72 (38), L du Plooy 27* (18), JC Buttler 23 (14), PJ Walter 22 (14), LD Dawson 6* (winning six)
Player of the Match: Tim Seifert (Manchester Super Giants) — 72 off 38 balls, 7 sixes, fastest fifty in men’s Hundred final history
